The European commission is so set up its own radio station for distributing EU propaganda.

Dubbed "Radio Brussels", the station will be financed by the European taxpayer and will broadcast to up to 20million listeners from next year.

It official remit is to "encourage the development of a European public area" with programmes including news show "Europe in perspective" and culture show "Europe Live".

It will be subsidized to the tune of £4.2 million per year or of £11,500 a day, and will broadcast original content initially in English, French, German, Spanish and Polish, though by 2012 the number of broadcasting languages will have been expanded to 23.

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The station, which will also be available over the internet from June, does not have an official name yet, though its working title is the "European Radio Project".

Sixteen radio stations have agreed to collaborate with the commission to produce programmes "from a European point of view". The first programmes will included so-called "hard news", and coverage of "big European cultural events".

The signing ceremony to launch the project is due to take place on Friday. Participants include public broadcasters Radio France Internationale, Deutsche Welle of Germany, and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

The commission claims it will not interfere editorially, though to judge by the content of its subsidized TV station, EuroNews, it will not have to.

EuroNews, which will see its Brussels funding double from GBP3.6million to GBP7.2 from next year, produces news and features with a Euro-federalist bias. European commission initiatives get heavy coverage.